FEAST OR FAMINE

  "The Art of Silver Mastership in 4th–19th Century Georgia" Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi   Some of the pleasures of visiting Tbilisi, Georgia, are the exhibitions about its history. This summer I visited   The Art of Silver Mastership in 4th–19th Century Georgia , an exhibition bringing together remarkable silver objects excavated from archaeological sites throughout Georgia. Spanning more than 1,500 years, the exhibition is about silversmithing and also about the lives of the people who owned these objects.   The exhibition traces the extraordinary skill of Georgian silversmiths through centuries of changing kingdoms, invasions, trade routes, and fashions. Every display case contains objects that were once part of everyday life, or at least the everyday life of those wealthy enough to own them.   There are elegant jewellery pieces: rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets and finely worked pendants. There are ornate clothing accessories, such as dress pins, ...

In a wing of the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi, Georgia, is a hall that showcases the brilliance of a craft passed from hand to hand for centuries. The exhibit "The Art of Silver Mastership in 4th to 19th Century Georgia" includes jewelry, weapons, and tableware.   From finely etched wine vessels to royal pendant crosses, from ceremonial weapons to delicate earrings and temple rings, the silver objects on show are more than decorative. They commemorate weddings, wars, coronations, and everyday home life.   Silver mastery in Georgia dates to the late Bronze Age, but the exhibition focuses on the 4th to 19th centuries, tracing an unbroken line of artisanship through shifting empires, trade routes, and religious traditions.   In Georgian culture, silver was not just a medium; it was also a message of national identity, personal status, and sacred symbolism. The exhibit pairs actual artifacts with frescoes and portraits of Georgian nobility where silver jewelry adorned ...

During my recent visit to Tbilisi, I came across an exhibition celebrating Zurab Porchkhidze (1934–1993), a masterful illustrator whose work shaped generations of Georgian readers. His art felt like an intimate conversation between storyteller and child, between tradition and imagination.   Born in Kutaisi, Porchkhidze studied book illustration at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts from 1956 to 1962, before completing postgraduate research in easel graphics in 1970 under Professor Vladimir Keshelava. He later became a professor and head of the department of applied graphics at the Academy and held the title of Honoured Artist of Georgia.   Porchkhidze illustrated more than 100 works, including children’s books, literary classics, international fairy tales, and popular science texts. He served as creative editor for the publishing house Literature and Art and regularly contributed to magazines like  Dila ,  Pioneer , and  Nyangi .   Some of his illustrations ...